It is known to apply a plurality of microphones onto a body surface in order to record body sounds simultaneously at a plurality of locations on the body surface. U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,505, for example, discloses a system in which microphones are placed around a patient's chest and recordings of the microphones are displayed on a screen or printed on paper. Kompis et al. (Chest 120(4):2001) discloses a system in which microphones are placed on a patient's chest to record lung sounds that are analyzed to determine the location in the lungs of the source of a sound detected in the recording.
Applicant's copending application Ser. No. 10/338,742 filed on Jan. 9, 2003 and having the publication number US 2003-0139679 discloses a method and system for analyzing body sounds. A plurality of microphones are affixed to an individual's chest or back. The recorded sound signals are analyzed to determine an average acoustic energy at a plurality of locations over the chest. The determined acoustic energies are then used to form an image of the respiratory tract.
A neural network is an algorithm used to classify elements based upon previously input information on the nature of the elements. U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,270 to Mah et al discloses use of a neural network to classify brain tissue as being either normal or abnormal. U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,438 to Veltri et al. discloses use of a neural network to distinguish between normal and cancer cells.